Ponderings

Thoughts for a Hot July

It's been pretty unbearable for the last few days. The heat is easing off just a little today, but I think it's mostly that the humidity may be a little lower.  In case you hadn't heard, New Jersey was hit by some pretty severe thunderstorms over the weekend.  Thousands of homes south of here are without power. With wildfires in the West and severe weather here in the East, the US is suffering Mother Nature's wrath for sure. I don't know if all of this is a consequence of global warming, but it certainly does make you think, doesn't it?

I was at an indoor picnic yesterday. I was supposed to be a dressage judge for driving show, but the organizer--my good friend--cancelled the show due to the heat. But, the after show picnic was already planned, so the party still went on.  I met some really nice people--all carriage drivers--and had a long chat with a women whom I knew years ago when I was still competing hunter/jumper.  She had all kinds of stories from "the old days," and seemed quite pleased to have someone to share them with.

Later, my neighbor, whose family reunion in South Jersey had been moved here after the storm devastated the campgrounds where they were gathering, came over with a cooler full of sweet corn husks for the horses.  He brought a group of young kids with him--all cousins--and they had a grand time feeding Toby, Tucker, and Chance the nice green husks.  I did limit the amount we fed the Boys, however, as it's never a good idea to overfeed anything like that.  I've parceled out the rest over the last two feedings, so the Boys have a nice little extra green treat with their hay.

And the hay...My hay man got the delivery of new hay from New York.  It's pretty stemmy as it's first cutting.  To look at it, some of it almost looks like straw.  But, fortunately, the Boys do seem to like it quite a bit. I would like something softer as an ideal, but as long as the horses like it, that's just fine. Since Tucker and Chance are already too fat, they don't need really rich hay anyhow. I do give Toby a bit more as I do keep an eye on his weight. As an older boy--22--I need to give him some extra calories to keep him in good flesh.

I figure I could stand to lose a few pounds--well, more than a few--so I started doing a little research on burning calories.  I found a really cool calorie calculator online that has all kinds of activities including riding and, believe it or not, feeding livestock.  If you are interested, here's the link.
Calorie Calculator

The only depressing part is that in order to lose a pound, you need, according to this site, to burn over 3000 more calories than you consume. Pretty depressing. That means I need to stop eating altogether and either swim or ride for about 10 hours a day for a month to lose enough weight. (Well, a slight exaggeration, but....)

I think I'll start that program tomorrow. *G*