The itty-bitty-cuteness-kitty turns 19 today. She has a vet checkup She can vote! Maybe she should write up her political commentary…

I might have two offers to ride horses for other people. I never thought about doing that, until I realized how out of shape I’ve become from not riding. SO… I’m going to take up the ladies on their offer. I’ll have to bring some fo my gear back from Tennessee, but hey better to be used than not.

Yay! Riding! I wish it was on my girl but at least this will keep improving my skills.

…without having fits. There is a nice walking track around a lake across the street from my apartment complex. I decided I should walk for 30 minutes 2-3 times per week. A lady from work has also been doing belly dance work outs with me during lunch. We’re also goign to walk after work at my house.

Between that and changing my diet to exclude more carbs and sodium, it should make a difference.

I walked for the first time after work tonight. I did 2 miles in about 25 minutes and then took out the trash (so up and down three flights of stairs three times in addition to walking).

Tonight was a Horse Masters meeting tonight at the Occoneechee Steakhouse in Hillsborough, NC. The last meeting was also held there. Good food, pretty reasonable prices. One of the ladies in Horse Masters had called ahead and confirmed that the restaurant could handle a group of 20-25.

Meeting started at 7:00. Nice chatting with everyone. Everyone trickled in by about 7:15 or 7:30. There are some interesting upcoming seminars and a neat show in October. One session plan is to sponsor a workshop for getting used to unusual situations and noises — with the mounted police horse trainer. I can’t wait to get Isis here to participate in some of their activities!

I talked with some of the ladies about my riding accident with Isis and how she has tripped before. As much as you try to get over an accident like that, there is always a nagging worry in the back of your mind that she might trip again. It makes me question my riding, worry about confidence, and be very careful with her. The ladies completely understood (in fact one woman had dealt with a similar situation). One of the reasons they had started the Horse Masters group was to help each other gain enough confidence to ride more. I’ve found a great place. =)

One lady had a quilt made from old show ribbons. Really lovely. Some of the ribbons mentioned UT Equestrian Club. She not only knew some of the same people I did, but she lived on the same road as my Mom in TN! She also knew Sirdar and had shown at some of the same shows I had been to. Funny how that works.

Unfortunately, the restaurant was understaffed. It took an hour for us to get our drinks. Our food came over an hour later. I think I was actually eating by about 9:30 PM. Sigh. It was good food, but man I can’t say that I enjoyed waiting so long for my meal.

The house has two showings! One taking place right now and another tomorrow morning. =) Here’s hoping that things will do well! I have good feeling about it.

Blood Ties fans are fanatical about their show. According to SaveBloodTies.com, fans raised about $1500 to post an ad in Variety. The ad runs this week. I found a copy of the ad running in Variety’s Award Central:

Way to go! Here’s hoping that the ad gets some much-needed attention and brings our show back for another season!

I spent most of Friday evening and Saturday morning researching cat food. I have two cats who have two different (almost contradictory needs). Stella, with her kidney issues, needs lower protein (25-30%) and medium amounts of carbohydrates. A diabetic cat like Ambush needs high protein and low carbohydrates (ideally below 20%).

California Naturals, the kitty food they have been on, has a carbohydrate level of about 34% and a protein level of 36%. Stella also quit eating it about a week ago. She doesn’t like it now, even after she has been eating it for months.

After a lot of searching through statistics and local availability, I found a food called Felidae, which has a protein level of 31% and carbohydrates of 23%.

I have samples and a small bag. They liked the dry food sample well enough. I’m hoping that they will like it.

I felt your breath
soft on my neck
myriad memories
tickling my mind like
whiskers
falling
from clippers

Luminous eyes
glazed with the day’s work
and the field is
dust
flicking through the stall
washed with bespeckled light
and the thrum of horse flies
and the stench of sweat
and the buzz of Osters
trimming, trimming…

The night is vacant now
scents of cedar and straw
drift through the barn into
my dreams–
twice-wet feet cross the stream
to another’s pasture

Your eyes–my eyes
stare through steel bars,
a stall door of my design
locked against my entry

I went to my first HorseMasters’ clinic on May 24th. It was a clinic designed to teach horses and riders about schooling over fences, from using ground poles to start a horse over fences to more advanced jumps and gymkhana. It was the exact level that Isis and I could have used. I missed my girl!

Because Isis is still in Tennessee, I volunteered to help — maybe six hours in all? I got to attend all of the sessions for free so long as I helped set up jumps and move things around as needed.

The people with HorseMasters are awesome. I have never met such a supportive bunch of people who smile and don’t glaze over when I tell “horse tales.” Maybe because we patiently listen to each other and enjoy hearing stories as much as telling them?

The first morning session was for starting young horses over trotting poles and then moving up to cross rails. Trotting poles are poles placed on the ground about 9 feet apart. Trotting the horse over the poles teaches the horse to pick up his/her feet and to be aware of his/her hooves. This translates into picking up their feet over a jump later on. They also used combinations of trotting poles and low cross rails. (The poles in the cross rails are crossed so the center of the jump is lower than either end.) The latter sessions progressed the trotting poles and cross rails sitting on the lowest hole up to 18 inches and then 24 inches.

The neatest thing about watching theses sessions are seeing the horses and riders progress from rushing to careful collection. My favorite moment was when one of the ladies rode her big draft over a fence and whooping in delight.

That’s what it’s all about.

I took tons of pictures. I’ll be posting them as soon as I download them from the camera.

What a great day!

Bad B-movies are a hobby. Every now and then you find something unique that has the potential to be bad. Not in a “I can’t watch this” rolling-eyes way, but in a “this is so bad I can’t stop watching” way. It’s got kitch, it’s got style, it’s got over-acting and Really Bad Writing.

A B-movie classic from 1989 called Vampire’s Kiss starring a very young Nicholas Cage. And boy is he over-the-top, running around screaming. Classic. Just classic.

Cage plays a chauvenistic literary agent who is dating one woman and starts sleeping with a vampire who gives him one royal working over. He is convinced that several love making sessions with her have turned him into a vampire. Along the way, murder, mayhem, ensue, all over acted and poorly written.

Great fun!