Shed Light

These next five days, the idea of light came into play on several occasions.  The Hindu festival of lights was celebrated, the light of day continues to shorten and daylight hours were changed, and the need to shine light on truth was exceedingly apparent. 

In the Bible, light is a symbol of goodness, holiness, knowledge, wisdom, grace, hope, and God's revelation.  Light signifies God's presence and favor.  Light is the nature and character of God. He is not just a light or a kind of light; He is light itself.  All light comes from Him. 


John 1:5: "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it". 
Darkness is associated with evil, sin, and despair.
Psalms 119:105: "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path".  The Holy Spirit is the source of our light, inspiration, and insight.  Matthew 5:16: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven". 

Friday 11/1 - Happy November 1st and also Diwali.  Diwali is one of the major festivals of Hindus.  It symbolizes the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness, bringing joy and prosperity.  Diwali is also known as a festival of lights.  A row of lights is displayed outside the home and represents the light that guards against spiritual darkness. 

I was slow moving at the start of the day, and actually throughout the day.  There was no sunshine with a lite drizzle all day, it had been a disrupted night with an overnighter arriving at 12:30am, and I was recovering from the over expenditure of energy the day before.  

Mama Styx on my lap and Monita plotting and scheming. 

Wind had preceded the rain and brought down a lot more leaves.  Not many are vibrant this fall because of the drought, but a few pretty (colorful) ones can be spotted.  And of course, many are floating in the creek. 





By afternoon it had cleared off.  Joe came with me to the ranch to do a few things and then help me with chores.  My third cat Babe.  After canned food for dinner, she eats the kibble that is always out in this dish, up where Maggie can't help herself.

Joe and I watched a creepy movie, Law Abiding Citizen.  Psychopaths are the scariest.

Saturday 11/2 - I like this photo of light being shed down on Patty and Betty (riding Zorro and Dorado).

I was caught up on blogging and had time for my usual on-line puzzles.  After a great (vigorous) workout at the gym, I met Patty and Betty at the ranch right after lunch time. 









We tacked up our horses and headed out into the beauty of the woods and the warmth of the sunshine. 






Zorro has been ridden two or three times a week lately, and is doing very well.  We are working on muscling him up which will help his overall health. 





While going down the trail, Patty took this photo of me taking a selfie of her and I. 


And this is the selfie photo I got.  LOL.












Our horses did great today.  We congregated occasionally to make them stand quietly and let them rest if needed. 




In this photo, Zorro looks bigger than Rico, but actually, they are about the same size.  Height wise, they are near the same.  But Rico is a little stockier and has a shorter body (head to tail).


Patty split off from us, taking the trail home through the woods behind our pasture.  Betty and I went down Marmaduke to Lake Kirkstone and rode around on the dirt roads that cross back and forth through the large looped gravel road.  Rico never spooked, but hesitated a few times, but did eventually go.  We took turns leading and following, and rode side-by-side much of the time.  I did have to keep legging Rico to keep him moving.  I'm not sure why he was being so pokey.  When I test rode him, that was not the case.  I have not given him any sweet feed (which he did get with Rostin) because of his cresty neck, and wonder if the extra sugar energy is what made him so peppy before.  I need some light shed on this matter. 

Patty took this photo of Zorro peeking at Amiga while he was in the woods on the way home.

Betty and I came home by way of Eli Ford, and down Ava Way.  Neither of our horses realized we were almost home, until we rode through the front gate. 

I untacked Rico in the barn by himself.  He did fairly well, not getting too nervous, but did holler for his buddy a few times.

Joe and I went out to dinner, starting at Stonehenge which had a 45 minute wait time, and ending up at The Brass Lantern.  We enjoyed delicious cuisine and caught up on ideas and plans for travel, the holidays, and the ranch.

Sunday 11/3 - I have seen lots of funny memes about the time change.  These three I especially liked. 


The struggle is real, setting time back and attempting to make the adjustments to schedules.  Try explaining it to the natural bio-rhythms of your rooster, dog, cats and horses, and even yourself.



And then figuring out how to switch the clock on all the different time pieces, it's a real headache.


I had gone to bed earlier than usual, because I just couldn't stay awake.  Well, with my clock already set back, it was 7pm when I turned out the lights.  Sheesh
Then I was up at 1am, having gotten six hours of sleep, I was unable to get back to sleep.  So I messed at my computer for three hours and then went back to bed to get a few more hours of sleep.  Talk about messed up. 







Just about every day Joe works at cleaning up leaves.  He is near his car in this photo, blowing leaves off the drive.  Also notice, the one side of our garage has become a storage space. 






I helped Joe (briefly) with leaf collection and then went to the ranch to ride with Karen. 






Rico usually comes right up to me when I go out to the paddock or field.  Karen and I were quickly tacked up and out on the trail for a short little ride.  I rode Amiga to see how she was doing and was disappointed that she started favoring her front left leg after tripping on a rock halfway through our ride.




Each day more and more leaves collect on the ground.  It makes it difficult to see rocks, roots, and holes.  We always proceed carefully on unknown turf, but can still trip up on hidden objects.

Shortly after getting back to the barn, Joanne came down the drive leading Rico.  She had agreed to help with some ground work in the round pen.  Rico was very distracted because it was feeding time with Amiga and Zorro in their stalls and Cowboy and Banner at the paddock fence a few yards away.  Rico did make some progress. 




Betty took this photo when coming down Eli Ford to do evening feeding chores.  Notice they are at our driveway.  Betty chatted with them.  These equestrian neighbors are one house down from the corner of Eli Ford and Chestnut Hill.  Now we know where the horse manure on the Kirkstone loop (which none of us has ridden, in ages) came from, that Betty and I saw yesterday when we rode that loop. 

Karen had given me a pasta dish, extra from a big pot she had made.  So I heated that up along with garlic toast and salad, and Joe and I actually enjoyed dinner together.

Monday 11/4 - The sun shed it's light before 6am, so I was at the ranch doing chores by 6:30.  Rico checking out the manure I was fixin' to clean up.  The two boys typically produce a whole wheel barrow full over night. 








A morning drink at the pond while I was opening the chicken coop.

I gave Amiga a Previcox before letting the four from the lower paddock out, and then picked up two more large loads of manure.


I had gotten up at 3am (after seven hours of sleep) and blogged then.  So when I was back from the ranch at 8am, I did some games/puzzles.  I guess I wasn't fully awake doing this Wordle... I should have got it on the 4th guess... just switch the P and the N.  Duhhh!  Oh well.  I took a nap.

I love the light that is shed in my sun room/office/cattery.  The plants (and cats) love it also.  With the trees mostly bare and the sun lower in the sky, more light comes in through the windows. 

Some pretty fall colors on the dogwood right outside the window, and Babe enjoying a nap, perched up high and  in the sun. 

I hit the gym, but did not have a great workout.  Everything seemed to take more effort than usual.  And I kept looking outside thinking I should be riding.

When I checked my phone (I leave it in the car while in the gym), Betty was waiting for me at the ranch. 

She sent this photo of the two boys drinking out of the stock tank together.  I thought our ride had been move until tomorrow, so I had to scamper to get to the ranch so as not to keep Betty waiting any longer than she already had been.

We were saddled and out the front gate around 3:30.  We met our neighbors on Eli Ford whose house is just behind Jem's. 








This is Matt and Lainey, who wanted to see the horses.  Our two trusty mounts were very good, standing quietly to be pet. 




We didn't have a lot of time before sunset, so our ride was pretty short.  Rico did much better for me, being more willing to head down the trail.  And he moved out fairly well, into a gait or canter, when asked. 

Coming back on the trail behind our pasture and paddock, Amiga and Zorro came over to see us.  Karen had fed them while we were out on the trail. 







Betty went on up the drive when we rode into the barn yard.  I do my tacking in the barn.  So Rico was all by himself for a change.  Last time I had him tied here by himself (two weeks ago) he was a nervous wreck. 



Rico did yell out for Dorado two times and then just looked at me when I told him to quiet down, everything was going to be okay. 







I walked Rico up through the front pasture and turned him loose in the paddock.  Dorado was still tied to Betty's truck so Rico went over there. 

Rico did turn and come back to see me, but Dorado is his favorite being right now.

We waited for the horses to cool off a little more, and then fed them.  Our solar powered shed light had actually come on while we were feeding the boys. 







It was getting dark as we finished up and were heading to our vehicles.  That is Venus just above the moon in this photo.  

Joe had dinner ready when I got home, stir-fry chicken he had cooked on his flat-top grill.

I was able to stay awake until 8:40... so I am slowly adjusting to the time change.

Tuesday 11/5 - I had planned to vote today, even though Tennessee's outcome was 'in the bag' already.  I am not sold on either candidate and have been debating who to vote for, even though my vote will not make a difference.  I know this will hit a nerve with many of you. 







Betty had gone to our polling place (the Library Building just a ¼ up the hill) at 8am.  Well she and her husband couldn't get there because the road was closed due to these two over-sized loads coming down Lakeview, that she took a picture of.  Because of this, I decided to hold off and vote later. 





While Joe was walking Maggie, he got a photo of the first truck which appeared to be stuck in the dip.  Come to find out, the transport truck got a flat tire.

I did get to the polls, and also renewed and checked out another library book, dropped some letters at the post office and went to the gym for a leg & aerobic workout.

Once home I did some packing (and one more load of laundry) and then was off to the ranch to do evening chores.  We needed more hay in the upper feed room, so I used the gator to take two bales along with Dorado's feed up there.

There was still plenty more to do before an early morning departure so I kept at it and was up until I posted this blog.  I didn't need to know who won the election before hitting the hay however.