We Duetted

Here's a Link

If you can access it, here is a link to the Cranbury Presybeterian Church website where my duet with Florence is located.

http://audio.cranburypres.org/2013/20130630start.mp3

The duet starts at 14:46 on the recording.

Some distortion on the high notes. The mikes are not set for singers, just for speakers at the podium.

I am the first voice--the higher one.

Pie Jesu by Andrew Loyd Webber is a beautiful piece.

So Far, So Good

Still Hot, But a Little Break

Woke up this morning to a potentially nice day humidity-wise. It was cool as long as the sun stayed behind the clouds. But that didn't last long.

Still, I fed the Boys and then, around 10 AM headed out to give Tucker a short workout. I figured 20 minutes would be enough for us both.

We started off with some trot, but I quickly decided to see if a canter warmup would be better. Often for a TB, with canter the more natural gait, it is a good starting point.

Canter does energize Tucker's trot--at least for a little while. He is a rather lazy boy in many ways and as I've noted before, going foward is not his forte.

The canter worked just fine, except that Tucker broke twice on the left lead. Once again, his not altogether forward and his not being really balanced--he was on a long loose rein--played into it all.  Right lead canter was much better, so I am not too worried at this point since he is not really fit.

After some trot work with circles and serpentines, we took a break and I put him into a bit of a frame on the bit to continue the exercises. Leg yields are fine and half pass to the right is again much better than to the left. So I did one nice half pass right and two half passes left.  At the canter, the left half pass was better today although not quite as deep as the right one can be. I did three left half passes at canter, mostly concentrating on keeping the gait all the way through. Not great, but not bad.

One more break during which we worked on some walk pirouettes and then back to trot to finish up with shoulder in on each rein.  Nicely done, and before I knew it, a half-hour had gone by and, although we were both hot and sweaty, we were not over heated. Guess the humidity was down a bit.

Tuck had a nice bath and I came back into the house, changed into my swimsuit and was over at the pool around noon time.

I swam for about 35 minutes, added two passes down the water slide--climb the stairs and swoosh down to swim to the steps for another 5-10 minutes. And then, for about 15 minutes or so--ever mindful of the hot sunshine--I rode the Lazy River.

Glad I went early as the pool complex is probably really crowded now. Weekends usually are.

I made some tomato,olive, feta salad, had a portion for lunch and just finished up the rest with some angel hair pasta for dinner.

My plan is to do some much needed house cleaning soon.

Soon.  Honest.

Soon.

The Heat is On

Summer is Here

For sure. Hot and humid all the time, except when a storm is threatening to come on in.

It was miserable this morning when I went out to feed the Boys. I did some barn chores and was soaked with sweat. Riding was far from my mind.

I had a rehearsal for a duet I am singing at church on Sunday. That went well, and when we got back outside, there was a nice breeze and it felt as if the humidity had dropped. I went to the market to get a few things, came home and then went out on a walk.

On the way back, I saw the road department guy who uses a big cutter to trim the weeds from the shoulder of the road. My front bank was in need of weedwhacking again, and it's been so hot I just haven't managed to attack it.

Inspiration!! I got out a nice cold can of Pepsi from the fridge and went outside to flag the road guy down. He graciously mowed my bank--pretty thoroughly too. Win!

He stopped for a chat and the cold soda before going after the weeds on the other side of my driveway--another challenge for me.  We talked about his machine and in the course of the discussion he told me the guys down at the Middlesex County Road Department refer to my road as Yahooty Road. Where that came from, no one quite knows, but it's been called that for some 30 years. He thinks maybe one of the road guys passed the Jewish cemetery at the west end of the road, saw a sign reading "Degel Yahudo" which is apparently the other name of Floral Park Cemetery and not quite being able to say it, started calling the road by the cemetery's name--sort of.

You never quite know what kind of interesting information and trivia you can pick up from casual encounters.

So, now that I know I live on Yahooty Road, I will cherish the thought and share it whenever I can. Especially since my noxious weeds are mowed down and I can see to get out of the driveway on to said thoroughfare.

I've just gotten back from a 45 minute swim with two trips down the water slide and a nice bunch of tours around the Lazy River.

I might go out to lunge Tucker as I don't want to get all hot and sweaty myself, if the storms hold off. But it does look pretty threatening out there.

Guess I will just have to play it by ear...if I hear thunder, that's it.

Evening Trail

Not The Best Idea Ever

I was going to get up early to ride, but I rolled back over when I felt the humidity and heat already starting at 7 AM Tuesday morning. I'd already made plans for dinner and I had a chiropractor appointment in the early afternoon, so the day was basically booked otherwise.

I did go for a swim around 11, managed another good 40 minutes and got home in time to get to the chiro. (And nutritionist, by the way. I have now lost 10 pounds since starting with her. No diet, just watch what I eat and exercise regularly.)

Anyhow, after dinner out with my friends, I thought it had cooled off a bit, so I headed out to the barn.

It was Chance's turn under saddle and I had a plan to ride out to the tree farm and back.

It would have been a really nice ride but the darn flies were wide awake and hungry.  They were not horrible, but annoying enough.  I had put the good fly spray on Chance--Mosquito Halt--but some of the little buggers were unimpressed.

Since I have the Bug Armor as well as new riding flysheets, I will remember next time to dress my boy before I take him out.  He's really good about the bugs--unlike Tucker and Toby--but still, I hate having him all twitchy and unhappy.

It didn't spoil the whole ride, fortunately. Chance was a good boy, we had a nice trot, and one little scary spook near the farm equipment on the way home.

But lesson learned. If I want to ride a totally happy horse, the flysheet goes on.

I did not ride today. The heat was truly oppressive.

Since thunderstorms are in the afternoon forecasts for at least the next 10 days, I will be doing my swims in the morning/early afternoon. The pool does not open until 11AM, so no matter what, I can't avoid the burning sun. I need to remember to put on some waterproof--although they say there is no such thing--sunscreen before I head over. My face looks a little red today from my early swim.

If I don't ride, I'll need to take a walk at some point to add to the exercise routine. Otherwise, my weight will flatline.

Wish my tummy would too.

Tucker at Work

On a Humid Morning

I was out at about 7 AM to ride. Hate to say it, but while it was still moderately cool, the humidity was miserable.

It was Tucker's turn again as when I ride, I alternate between Chance and him.

Not much to report except that it's quite clear Tucker half passes better to the right than the left. This is interesting because for my other horses it was usually the opposite. Which means I have either learned to ride to the right better, or Tucker is just naturally more inclined to go right laterally OR his right hind leg needs some strengthening so it can step over.

Regardless, the left half passes are more shallow and, when I try it at canter, he continually breaks to trot when we try the left half pass.

No biggie. It's just something to work on a little at a time.

Besides, my main focus for the ride was just maintaining forward energy, no matter what we were doing. Tucker kind of has a "trickle down" gait. It starts off just fine, but if I do not constantly remind him, he gradually loses his forward energy.

Nagging him stride after stride is not acceptable, so I just sensitized myself to feel the first moments of losing energy and gave him a quick tap with either my leg or the whip, depending on the moment. The other strategy was to do an upward transition--from walk to trot, or trot to canter. The trot/canter transitions are usually pretty energizing, especially on a Thoroughbred. Born and bred to gallop, canter often makes the TB's trot improve and it can be an excellent warm up gait.

We finished up riding a self-invented test which was kind of a combo of exercises from training, first, and second levels. It just put everything together and required me to ride the exercises without correcting or redoing anything that might have gone wrong. When you are schooling, the tendency is to repeat a movement if it isn't right, but in a test at a competition, you can't do that. So I always feels it's a good idea to simply ride a set of exercises no matter what happens now and then so I know how to ride through and cope in a real test.

Once again, aside from the left half pass it went pretty well. One movement I was particularly pleased with was walk pirouette. I can feel both hind legs keeping a pretty good "march" rhythm as we go around, so that might actually mean a good pirouette.

After my ride I took a break in the house--air conditioned--figuring I'd go for my swim around 3 PM.  I'm not all that keen about going to the pool too early in the afternoon as I get sunburned pretty quickly. If I wait until the later afternoon sun, it's better.

But despite plans, at just around 3:00 the sky darkened threateningly. The weather forecast had predicted thunderstorms much later, but I guess nature did not read the reports. Sure enough, thunder started to rumble on the western horizon.  I was sure the pool would close.

I waited for an hour or so, then suited up under clear skies and headed over to the pool, but they had decided not to take any chances with the forecast and had closed for the rest of the evening. Phooey!

Home again, I changed into my walking shoes and headed out to the tree farm. There was a lovely breeze and I took about a 35 minute walk in the evening air. The sun was still out, but the passing storm had cooled things off enough to make it quite pleasant.

The walk didn't quite make up for the swim, but the extra exertion of really riding Tucker in the morning as well as doing a few extra barn chores may have made up for it.

All in all, it wasn't a perfect day at Follywoods, but it was more than good.

And, oh yes, my well has been repaired. I am now back on house water instead of barn water with a garden hose. Even better, the final cost was under the estimate I was given

One more small win for the wallet.

Full Day At Follywoods

And I Wore Myself Out

I spent about two hours out in the barn in the morning, working at something the whole time. I think it was the last of the not so humid days, so I took advantage.

Before I fed the Boys, I rode Chance.

We had a really nice trail ride. Since it was around 7 AM, the flies apparently were not yet out of bed, so the woods trail out to the field was lovely and cool.  This time we headed out to the Van Dyke Farm behind the woods, went along the back of the field there--with some trotting and cantering-- and headed back along the power lines road.  This is basically a hairpin circle.

The water under the power lines has receded, making a pond of only about 25' across, but...OH MY! The deer flies and mosquitoes are thriving there. HUGE mosquitoes, too. Once Chance had waded willingly through, I let him canter on back out to the field road just to get away from the biting monsters. It was the only place on the whole ride where we got attacked. The mosquitoes were biting me right through my breeches. Savage critters.

On a whim, I decided to try the woods trail on the way home, leaving the option open to make it the short version if the flies were biting. We lucked out. Once again it was cool and shady with virtually no flies at all.
Chance is becoming a better and better trail horse. He is so much fun to ride out there I may never get him properly schooled as a dressage horse. *G*

I'm sure the deer flies will be out in force soon. It's getting humid again and certainly is hot enough for them. But I had one more day of happy riding in the forest.

Back home, I fed, and did a good bit of stall cleaning and cleaning in the run-in shed. That's the shady side of the barn and the Boys will hang out there sometimes.

I considered a walk, and changed my mind, figuring I'd get a swim in later instead.

And I did. I managed a good 40 minutes despite the threat of rain. The sky was really looking ominous as I left the pool, but all we had was a short shower. However, I think the front brought in the humidity.

Ah, well. Every day cannot have perfect weather. We just lucked out with an almost perfect week.

Never Visit the Tent

Go Riding Instead

Yesterday, I needed grain. Toby's breakfast yesterday was the last of it.

Rick's Saddle Shop was having the yearly tent sale. All kinds of great bargains abound at these sales. I didn't need anything.

So I had three choices. One  was to go to the Englishtown store--closer--to buy my grain and pick up some raffle tickets in the process--$1000 store credit. Or, I could go to the Cream Ridge store, visit the tent sale on the first day, and get my grain there. Or, I could buy grain later and ride in the morning before I got too hot.

 A stroke of "lazy hit me and I decided not to ride. Then, I opted out of temptation and headed for Englishtown to avoid the lure of the tent sale.. Trouble was, that despite the fact their inventory computer showed and then sold me my order of alfalfa cubes, they were clean out. So I'd paid for them but didn't have them.

Cream Ridge had the cubes in stock.

Ooops.  I headed home, switched cars, waited while the electrician who happened to show up finished hooking up my generator---YAY!!--activated my credit card and headed out for Cream Ridge.

I bought: Ariat boots on sale, paddock, mud busters, and non-riding dress boots; two pairs of Ariat riding tights; two collapsible whips; a super Irideon riding shirt; some fly spray (everything in the store was 20% off); thrush medicine, and two sets of soft lovely riding flysheets. (I already have the Cashel bug armor, but this fabric is really soft and looks soooooo comfy for the horse.)  I did not NEED the majority of what I bought except for the fly spray and thrush med.

On the other hand, my paddock books are rather scruffy, so a new pair for over 33% off is a pretty good deal. And the other boots had an even deeper discount. And I do not have any fashion boots at all, so that was kind of cool.

I shall not justify my extravagance. I was naughty and that's all there it to it.

I have to go back to the store on Sunday for the drawing. There's a super good deal on fly spray, but it's likely to be sold out by the time I get there. However, I do need to look for something to put on the strange rashy bumps Tucker has on his left hind area. He must have lain down on some kind of  irritating plants or a bug nest??? I do have a topical I've been using, but I suspect there is something better out there that will calm down the bumps and the itch.

I did not ride Friday with all the driving around, but I did get in a 40 minute swim.

Today, so far, I rode Tucker in the arena for a half hour.  He had a good workout.  I did a pretend Prix St. George Test after watching a video on the Behind the Bit blog.  Actually, aside from the flying changes and canter pirouettes, Tucker was able to do most of the other movements. Granted, they are not FEI level quality, but they are in his repertoire. I spent the last 5 minutes or so doing lots of trot transition half halts to get him into self carriage.

I'm not asking for a lot from him. Not only are his muscles not fit, but I do have to pay attention to his hocks. I don't want to make him sore for no reason except my ego.

After the ride and final grooming, I came back into the house, changed into my swimsuit and headed to the pool.

The water was chilly, but quite refreshing. This time I swam varied strokes for 45 minutes, and finished up the day with some circuits of the Lazy River.

It's getting hotter out each day, but perhaps by evening I will have recovered enough energy to either take a walk or do some lawn trimming.

We'll see. For now a salad was almost satisfying and just sitting around is really appealing.

Solo Flight

Chance Takes the Trail By Himself

The trail that goes to the tree farm and back along the Turnpike--the one I walked yesterday--is full of distractions. There is all the farm equipment to pass.  Then it passes along my road, where, across the street, the Local 825 Heavy Equipment Training Center makes a lot of noise. Finally, we parallel the NJ Turnpike for a good long distance. At times it's level with the traffic, then above the traffic and then below. Trucks and cars passing by a few hundred feet away make a lot of noise.

Chance has been on this trail three times with other horses at his side. Christine and I paired up on those rides. Today, Chance had his solo flight on the trail.

He was an angel.  I think he was still looking for Christine and JJ or Juan to keep him company, but he was a good boy willing going past everything. We only had one startled moment, and that was back on the part of the trail heading into the woods. A rather good sized buck leapt up out of the tall grass and bounded across the field.  Once Chance saw it was only a deer, he settled right back down after one not too dramatic sideways spook of his own.

Since the bugs didn't seem too bad, we took the woods trail home.

Now, here's the funny part. The whole trail was over 2 1/2 miles long. It took us over 45 minutes. According to my GPS, Chance's pace was about 2.8 mph on the average. That is not much different than my regular walking pace when I'm out there.

Conclusion? Riding my horse at a walk is not a faster mode of transportation than my own legs.

Now, mind you, Chance did stop a few times and sometimes he was a bit slow as he cautiously made his way past some of the stranger sights on the trail.

The rest of the day's exercise included about a half hour of barn chores and another walk for me of 40 minutes.

I am sufficiently worn out for the day.

Now I have to figure out what to do with all the greenery I picked up with my CSA farm share. This week, I have a huge head of red lettuce, a large bunch of collard greens, an onion, a head of broccoli, and three yellow squash.

Since I still have a green squash from last week to eat, I am thinking some nice squash pancakes made with the onion sound good. I tried a squash waffle  earlier, and while it was delicious, it stuck to the waffle iron and was a bit of a mess. I'll just do my pancakes in the frying pan.

Sour cream on them....yummy.

Tucker Takes A Turn

Glorious Weather Day!

It was cool, breezy sunny and beautiful this morning. With low humidity, it was stunning change from the last week or so.

I fed the Boys first this time, waited for breakfast to digest, and then went out to ride Tucker

We worked in the arena for a bit over a half hour. The first part was a longish warmup on a fairly long rein, just asking him to go foward and do a bit of bending for suppling. We did a few canter trot canter transitions, some leg yield and some circles. He was relaxed and well behaved.

The second part of the session--shorter in time--I gathered him up on the bit and challenged him with some half pass at the trot and canter. We also worked a little on half halt hesitations to get him a little lighter in front. I had a lot of weight in the rein for the most part, a result of his not really being in shape to carry himself, so I did the hesitations to rebalance him, then trotted off again until he started to get heavy, half halted, and repeated the exercise.

I did this on both reins. The right rein was actually easier, but towards the end he did try to rush off a little, so I suspect he was getting tired. I asked for just a little longer, and then let him stretch down to relax his back and cool down.

His nose went to the ground. Full stretch down with no prompting from me.

Back in the barn, he got his obligatory carrot, a nice sponging off and freedom to spend the rest of the day doing important horse things.

Today, that seemed to be grazing in the pasture. The rain has brought a little grass and to everyone's delight, there were no bugs about.

I poo picked the riding arena.

Later, I went out for an hour's walk. I had the Iphone GPS with me but did not log on until I was already up to the tree farm. As near as I can estimate, my total walk was a bit over a mile and a half. Next time I'll remember to load the app before I leave the house.

It was a perfect weather day to exercise. Wish the pool had been open. That would have been the perfect ending to the activities.

Ah, well, sometime next week it will be open full time.

Hard to wait in the meantime.

Not Again!!

At the Point of No Return

The phrase above describes the moment in a journey when you pass the halfway point. There is no point in turning back because the time and distance to the end of the journey is the same as the time and distance from the start.

For me, on my walk, start and end are home.

Twice now, within the last week, I've been at the point of no return when it started to rain. The last time,
I was over in the sandpit, just across from my house--halfway along the sandpit trail, but blocked from my house by probably two hundred feet of briars, woods, poison ivy, and a huge bank of earth. Today, I was out at the tree farm, on the trail along the Turnpike when it started to rain once again.  The first time, I was absolutely soaked in a downpour. Today, I was wet enough and worried because it was thundering as well.

I am home, safe and sound, redressed in dry clothes waiting for my hair to dry.  It's short, so it won't take long.

But the day was not all wasted. I was up and getting ready to ride Chance by 7 AM.  A hot day was in the forecast, so I decided to get in a trail ride in the early morning cool.

Chance is really amusing. He was all enthusiasm and raring to go on the way out. I let him trot a bit which made him quite happy. I do think, since I was heading out along the woods that he expected to meet up with Christine and one of her horses, so he was on the alert.

Instead of heading back along the farm first, I headed down the power line road instead. I was pretty sure it would be flooded.

I was right. There was an expanse of perhaps 60 feet or more of roadway under water. In places it was at least two feet deep.  Since I knew where the road was underfoot, I asked Chance to go on in.

What a star!! He did not hesitate for a moment but walked carefully forward to ford the pond.  What a brave boy!  Once we got through he trotted a little more and broke into a canter for a bit.  I gathered him back before the next mud puddle which we were able to go around, and headed out for the farm road.

He looked at the road going away from home, tried to go that way, and then stopped dead when I steered him to the route home.  He wasn't bad, but it did take a little persuasion to get him to go back instead of out on a longer ride.

We had a nice trot along the farm road, but at the end, where the trail headed off again in the opposite direction, he slowed way down again, and tried to head off once more.

No biggie, but I had to laugh.  Most horses would zero in on the trail home, but not Chance. He was ever ready for more adventure.

We got home, eventually, and there, morning feed awaiting--more of an incentive, you'd think.  I fed all three Boys, gave Chance the obligatory carrot, and cleaned the stalls and run in shed.

I could hardly believe it when I was back in the house and it was only 9 AM.

Oh, by the way, Patrick O'Patticats has been climbing up on my computer table to seat himself right in front of my monitor when I am trying a use it. He does not at all get discouraged by being pushed off.

Part of it is trying to get my attention to continue the perpetual game of fetch the mouse. (Of course it has to be a special stuffed mouse--not just any toy will do.)   By sitting in front of the monitor, fixing his eyes on mine and meowing, he makes it really hard to ignore him.

Today, totally frustrated, I  put a piece of aluminum foil on the table right where he sits.

Victory.

Cats tend to have a natural aversion to aluminum foil. The shiny, crinkly stuff just doesn't appeal to them.

Right now he's lying on the radiator cover to the right. I wouldn't exactly call him happy about it, but at least I can see what I'm doing.

Unlike this photo from the other day.

*lol*

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Don't Come Back On Saturday

Good heavens, what a dreadful weather week we've been having. While it was gorgeous on Wednesday, it's been downhill ever since and doesn't look all that great for the weekend.  Saturday may be OK, but thunderstorms are in the forecast again for Sunday.

The swimming pool was going to have a special members only opening today--Friday--but that doesn't look too promising. While it's supposed to be warm on the weekend, I don't think the water is going to be too pleasant. But I will try to swim anyhow.

Yesterday, I just managed a lawn mowing in the morning before the rains started. It wasn't the best job, but it will keep things under control until it dries out again.

But the day just went on anyhow. My electrician finally showed up and partially connected my line for the generator to operate the whole house. He has to wait for a part to finish up.

Then, the day got sadder and soggier. My sweet, feisty little barn kitty, Misty, had not been eating. I took her to the vet and sure enough, it was not good. She was suffering from liver failure. The outlook was bleak, and the vet said euthanizing her was the best option aside from some heroic hospital care that was not often successful.  Misty was clearly miserable, so I agreed and she was gently, lovingly and quietly put to sleep.

I had Peppercorn there too for his rabies shot, so I had someone to talk to on the sorrowful journey home. I had just enough time to bury Misty by the rose garden before I had to get ready to attend a friend's retirement party. Suffice it to say, I was not in the happiest of states at that point.

The party was nice as I got to see many of my old friends from school many of whom have retired as well.

I had a choir rehearsal next, but as I left the restaurant, the skies opened with a huge and heavy thunderstorm. All the way to church, it poured!  And it didn't stop raining through the rest of the night, into the morning. It's not raining now, but it's chilly out and absolutely soggy out there. I need to walk but the roads around the farm filed get really slippery.

Guess I'll figure something out, or just not eat for the rest of the day.

 RIP little Misty girl. It was my honor an joy to give you a home for the short time you had with us on this earth.

So, What Have I Been Doing?

Not Much, I Fear

The pool was closed Saturday due to the storms that passed through on Friday, flooding everything.

Sunday, after going to a friend's brother's viewing at a funeral home, I went to the feed store to stock up on some grain. Then, once I got home, I did get to the pool for a nice swim.

Monday, gone in a blur. Not sure if I accomplished much, but it was raining again, as I recall. Somewhere in between all that, I did some DR string trimming around where the hose is running across the lawn so I would not have to mow there with the big mower. And I did trim in several other places working for over an hour at that.

Tuesday, I went for a 40 minute walk, had a chiropractor appointment, and later on, dinner out with friends.

Today? I was thinking of mowing the lawn, but never made it. I did manage to walk around the sandpit lake again, this time with my hiking friend, Joe. All told the whole hike was nearly 3 miles and with stops to take pictures of flora a fauna, we were out for an hour and forty-five minutes. The morning was breezy cool and lovely. But by the time we got back, I was really tired so I crashed for a while. As afternoon wore on, it got hotter again, so I didn't do anything more in the way of exercise until about 8 PM when I headed out to the riding arena to poo pick.

Four full wheelbarrow loads later, I'd cleaned the arena, the arena run in shed, and the shed on the west side of the barn.

Tucker has finally lost a shoe--he was overdue for the farrier--so no riding for him. Scott called today. He's really backed up with horses needing shoeing jobs for horse shows--the season is in full swing.  Since I am not competing, I've ended up on the lower end of his crisis list. But he told me he'd be coming this week, although he may not make it until Friday.

Meantime, with heavy rain once again in the forecast, it doesn't look as if riding is likely anyhow. Chance is barefoot, of course, but his feet are pretty long too.  If I get some clear weather, I will ride him--sooner than later. I was thinking of it today, but to be honest, after that long walk, I just didn't have the muscle power left.

So, I am getting some exercise, and I did walk in the rain on Friday, but this weather is really wearing thin. I'm lucky with my property's being on high ground because flooding is becoming more and more of a problem as inches and inches of rain keep hitting us.

Storms predicted for tomorrow, so I guess I'll be mostly inside--watching the grass grow.

OK, So Now What

Weather Change

So the weather changed for the better and I went in to substitute teach. I went for a nice swim after school and then just had enough time to get out the food to take to my friend's house for dinner.

It's the Tuesday night supper club presently consisting of the Four Musketeers. We may expand during the summer but for now it's my church choir director and two other members of the choir having a night out eating. This time it was hot dogs, potato salad, baked beans, tossed salad, and corn on the cob.

Good thing I had a nice swim, because I didn't have time to ride.

The next day, I went back to school to see the seniors yearly projects. They presented them in an expo in three rooms of the school. I will post more on this later, but suffice it to say I was very impressed with their original inventions: remote control door openers, an electronic cane for vision impaired people, a lifting rack for the back of a pickup truck, a tool inventory retrieval system, a new style backpack, and makeup organizer,  a library book finder, a rolling beach chair system to carry all your goodies, and a traveler's ironing board.

After I spent an hour or so at the expo, I went to the swimming pool and swam for about 45 minutes.

On the way home, I did a bit of shopping--minimal success-- and then headed home, hoping the well guy would call.

I fell asleep on the couch by accident and then woke up at feeding time for the Boys.  No riding again.

Today, I waited all morning for the well guy who finally did show up an hour and a half later than planned. That pretty much shot the morning. But the good thing is they will probably be able to fix my water problem next week. It looks as if the job will not be too complicated. The well casing is a 6 inch one, which is apparently good.

Once the well guy had left, I needed to go to the feed store to get alfalfa cubes. I picked up some Chinese take out on the way home so I had to eat some of that.

By then, it was feeding time again. While the Boys ate, I went for a nice 45 minute walk. I kind of regretted not riding, but I have a meeting to attend, so time was short.

Tomorrow? We are expecting tropical storm Andrea to drag her way on by with some heavy rain. It's not supposed to be a bad storm as far as wind goes, but there may be some coastal and river flooding. It worrisome for a lot of the homeowners who were flooded out in Sandy and Irene. Hope they are going to be OK.

Not Much Going On in the Heat

Upper 90's Every Day

The horses are standing in the barn for most of the day with the fans blowing on them. I don't blame them. It's hot out there.

I subbed on Friday, but the pool was closed after school as it is in the summer. I did take a 40 minute walk around the campus in the heat. It definitely wasn't as nice as a swim would have been but it worked for exercise.

Saturday, I walked for about 40 minutes in the morning and then!!! I headed over to Crystal Springs for the first outdoor swim of the season. The water was still on the cool side, but once I was in, it felt glorious in the heat! I swam for about 40 minutes and then rode the Lazy River for three circuits. I try to be a bit careful out there since it's in the sun and I usually don't have any sunscreen on. And, it was midafternoon which meant the sun was high.  When I got out of the river, I added four more laps to my swim total and headed home.

Sunday, after church, I attended a lovely party for the son of one of my choir friends. He had his confirmation to celebrate. We had a super lunch at the Cranbury Inn's champagne buffet. Delish!

I walked around the church cemetery for about 30 minutes before driving home--I'd had two mimosas.

Once home, I took a short nap and then headed out to the pool again. They are only open on weekends until the school year is over and all the teenage lifeguards and workers are free during the day.  So, I need to take advantage when I can.

Again, I swam for about 40 minutes and rode the river as I had on Saturday.

When I got home, I unloaded 8 bags of grain and bedding.

So, the exercise program is in full swing. While it rains today, I am taking a rest and recovery day.  But I did do some stall cleaning. That uses a different set of muscles, so I hope the ones that need to rest will do so and recover as needed. I have to remember to take a rest day now and then.

But those of us who care for our own horses know that a day of complete rest is impossible. I guess we just have to call it a "take it easy" day instead.